Bitten
by EsmeAmelia
Summary: TDP spoilers. A series of explorations into Galahad and Te'ijal's struggles after Galahad becomes a vampire again.
1. Chapter 1

AN: The Darkthrop Prophecy got me so hyped up and gave me a ton of fanfic ideas. This will be a series of events that illustrate the struggles between Te'ijal and Galahad

"Bitten"

By EsmeAmelia

Chapter 1

Galahad shouted out every curse he knew as his neck tingled and throbbed and blood trickled down towards his shirt. For a while he could hear nothing except his own swears, though he was vaguely aware of Te'ijal shouting at Beatrice. He stopped yelling long enough to see Beatrice turn into a bat and fly away.

After a final growl, Te'ijal turned to her husband, leaning her head over, exposing her beautiful pink neck in his direction. "Galahad, bite me," she demanded.

Her neck _was _beautiful. Why hadn't he ever noticed that before? He had certainly seen it plenty of times, but why hadn't he seen how plump and rosy it was?

Suddenly something hard pushed against his bottom teeth, something hard and sharp, bringing pain to his gums. He hardly had time to register the pain before the same thing happened on the other side of his mouth.

"Your fangs," Te'ijal said hungrily, pushing her neck closer to him. "Bite me, Galahad."

Fangs. So this was how it felt to grow fangs. Last time he had fainted dead away and woken up in his new wife's arms with his fangs already in place. He had never known that it _hurt _to grow fangs.

"What are you waiting for?" Te'ijal persisted. "Bite me!"

"No, wife!" Galahad roared stepping back from her, struggling to look away from her neck. "The vampiric curse is evil - I will not spread it."

As she growled loudly, he turned away from her, trying not to think about her delecate little neck with the veins underneath it.

"We don't have time for this," Edward was saying. "Let's get back to Underfall and Galahad can go into the Demon Realm."

Galahad would go into the Demon Realm. Yes . . . he would do it. _He_ would get to rescue Mel, the way a knight was supposed to. He would get to be the hero . . . yes, he would use this curse to his advantage and get Mel to use the Orb of Life on him whem this was over.

"Galahad!"

He heard his wife's desperate call as the group left Beatrice's house and stepped into the night smelled so crisp and fresh to his newly reawakened vampire nose, but he wouldn't acknowledge it, nor would he look at her. He kept his eyes focused ahead on the streets of Ghe'dare spread before them.

"Galahad, _look at me!_"

Now she was using what was once her "vampire" voice, the voice meant to compel humans to do her bidding. Galahad almost laughed - it sounded more like a child who desperately wanted to play with a toy he had.

Then an interesting thought occured to him. _He_ was a vampire while _she_ was a human. Their roles from when they first met were reversed. He was stronger than her, faster than her . . . he could bend _her_ to his will if he wanted . . . but did he have hypnotic powers when he had never fed?

What, what was he thinking? Of course he would never try to hypnotize his _wife!_

Suddenly Te'ijal leapt in front of her husband like an animal begging for food, once more pointing her neck in his direction. "Come on my partidge, do I not look _tasty?"_ she said in her seductive voice. "Drink my blood and you will be strong enough to fight the demons."

Galahad's heart would have thumped if it still beat. As he stared at her neck he could almost see the ruby red blood flowing through her veins. Flowing, flowing, flowing. And her smell . . . did she ever smell so _enticing _before?

"N-no, wife," he said stiffly.

Now she was grabbing his wrists with her soft hands. "But crumpet, if we go into the Demon Realm together, we will have a better chance of saving Mel."

Together. Husband and wife rescuing Mel together. Once again the river of blood under her skin was pounding in his head, her smell making him dizzy.

"But . . ." His voice came out in a rigid whisper. ". . . I could end up . . . _eating_ you."

Te'ijal gave a short laugh, a laugh that sounded like the sweetest music. "You? _Eat_ me? Come on, you have suppressed your vampiric urges for over three hundred years - why would you lose control with your _darling _wife?"

"It's _because _you're my darling wife that I can't risk it!" Galahad shouted, yanking his hands out of hers."_Don't _ask me to curse you for all eternity." He immediately looked away and strode ahead of the group.

_Don't think about her,_ Galahad desperately told himself. _Think about your mission. _He tried . . . he really tried . . . he imagined himself battling a demon . . . but every time he tried to picture what the demon looked like, he saw his wife again, baring her neck, her delicious blood only a bite away . . .

He gulped even though he no longer had saliva. Resist, resist, resist . . . goddess, why did he have to _tell _himself to resist now? He had _been_ resisting for three hundred years.

But never before had Te'ijal been the one tempting him.


	2. Chapter 2

"Bitten"

By EsmeAmelia

AN: Thanks for the reviews!

Chapter 2

"Wife . . ."

The word was so long, so sultry that Te'ijal hardly recognized it to be Galahad's voice. Her husband was striding towards her, his eyes bulging, his arms open, his footsteps echoing off the walls of the Underfall cathedral, grinning like a madman.

"My darling, darling wife," he purred when he reached her. "My wonderfully wicked wife." He grabbed her shoulders and squeezed them tightly, his vampire hands bringing pain to her human shoulders.

"Galaad," she said, concentrating on keeping her voice steady and ignoring the sudden increase in her heartbeat, "are you feeling all right?"

Galahad leaned over and stuck his nose in her hair, deeply inhaling her scent. "I have never felt _better, _my tasty." He smelled her hair again. "Mmm . . . you smell so _intoxicating."_

Te'ijal blinked as him as if trying to make sure this wasn't another man posing as her husband. She knew perfectly well that to a human nose she smelled like a filthy prison cell, and Galahad had never previously admitted how delicious humans smelled to vampires. "Galahad," she said carefully, "are you _certain _that you're feeling all right?"

"Absolutely," said Galahad, sniffing her hair yet again, his cold vampire breath chilling her scalp. Suddenly he pulled her up to him so that her body was directly pressed against his. "Let me bite you, darling," he whispered in her ear.

"What?"

"You heard me." He wrapped his cold arms around her like a snake around its prey. "I was such a fool for all those years. You were right about everything - we _are_ superior to humans and they _are_ nothing more than our food." He stroked her neck with a single finger. "Look at you, so _pathetic_ as a human. I can give you what you long for. Just say the word . . . and we can be together forever, feasting on humans every night."

Together forever. Vampires again. No more would he flee her . . . no more would she have to suffer the difficulties of being a human . . . their lives would finally be the way they were _meant _to be . . .

But why was he suddenly offering this?

In another sudden move, he grabbed her face and kissed her with his icy lips, a drawn out, hungry kiss. Hungry. Hungry for what? Her blood? _Only _her blood? She tried to find the passion that resided in his previous kisses from their human days, but there was none, there was only that intense hunger. His eyes were closed, but hers remained open - she wouldn't, _couldn't_ lose herself in this kiss.

"Galahad!" she finally shouted, pushing his face away from hers. "What is _wrong _with you?"

"Absolutely nothing," Galahad sang. "I am _right _for the first time in my existence."

This was enough. She wiggled out of his strong arms and began storming off, her mind in a blur, not knowing just where she was going, only thinking about getting _away from him._

_"Te'ijal!"_

She stopped. Not out of her own free will, but because her legs felt something compelling them to stop. That voice . . . he was using _that _voice, the voice he had never used before.

He was trying to hypnotize her.

"Te'ijal, _come here!"_

She started to turn around.

Her mind was blank, a complete submission to his words, ready to be dictated to go anywhere, do anything.

But then, somehow - maybe because he wasn't looking her in the eyes, maybe because a vampire who had never fed had weak hypnotic powers, maybe because she was once a vampire herself - her will came flowing back into her before the turn was complete, before she could look in his eyes.

"No," she whispered.

With that, she stuck her fingers in her ears and broke into a run away from him. Edward and Stella were just on the other end of the room, but it felt far away. Something was pounding in her head, her chest, everywhere. All thoughts were blurred and confused except one.

_What happened to my husband?_


	3. Chapter 3

"Bitten"

By EsmeAmelia

AN: Thanks for all the reviews! All right, this chapter takes place right after the Oracle tells Edward, Te'ijal, and Stella about the Stone of Aya. The three of them are making their way back through the Dire Woods and spending the night in a cave.

Chapter 3

Once again a snowstorm forced the group to take refuge in a cave, much like what had happened over a year ago. Back then, their group had been seven, and they had awakened the next morning to find one of their group missing. Now there were only three remaining. One of their original group was in prison, which may have been deserved, but she was in prison along with all the other leaders in the world. Another of their original group had chosen to live a quiet life in the study of alchemy.

And two were lost in the darkness.

The trio ate their supper in silence around the small fire. There was much to talk about, but none felt up to the task of actually beginning a conversation. The absense of two of their friends was hovering over them - talking about it would only confirm the fact further. It wasn't until they had spread out their fur blankets and settled in for the night when the silence was finally broken.

"How could she?" Edward muttered. "How _could_ she?"

"You heard the Oracle," Te'ijal muttered back, turning over in a vain attempt to get comfortable on the stone floor, the hardness of which pressed through the furs on which she was lying. "She fell victim to the Demon Realm's influence."

"How _could_ she?" Edward said louder, acting as if he hadn't heard her.

"Edward, don't worry," Stella said gently. "We'll save Mel - and Galahad too."

Galahad. Why did the moth have to mention Galahad? Te'ijal ground her teeth as the cold night air reminded her of Galahad's breath on her neck, his tight grip on her shoulders, his wicked voice tempting her to join him.

"The next time I see Beatrice I will stake her," she growled suddenly with a fury rarely heard in her accented voice.

"What?" Edward and Stella reacted together.

"She was supposed to bite _me!"_ Te'ijal's body was beginning to shiver from more than the cold.

Stella let out a long sigh. "Te'ijal, I know you wanted to be a vampire again, but don't you think we have more important things to worry about?"

The foolish moth! Te'ijal sat straight up, slapping the blankets as she did so. "_I _have tasted human blood! _I _could have safely returned from the Demon Realm! _I _could have rescued Mel without losing my mind!"

The other two jumped to a sitting position in surprise.

"Now, thanks to Beatrice," Te'ijal continued, "I may have lost my husband forever, so don't you DARE accuse me of being selfish!"

Edward glared at her. "Oh, so this is all _Beatrice's _fault, isn't it?"

"What do you mean?"

Edward's glare was hardening. "Was it _Beatrice_ who ran away to Sedona just because she couldn't stand anyone seeing her as a human?"

"I was _struggling_ with being a human!" Te'ijal argued.

"Struggling with _what?"_ Edward fumed. "Eating food? Sleeping in a bed? You poor poor thing - the rest of us just had to struggle with a maniac ex-vampire after us!"

"Edward . . ." Stella said softly.

"You wouldn't understand - you've never been a vampire!" Te'ijal shouted.

"Te'ijal . . ." Stella said equally softly.

"Oh, and as I recall," Edward yelled, "it wasn't _Beatrice_ we had to practically drag kicking and screaming to help us rescue Mel! Maybe if we hadn't had to take that little sidetrip to Sedona we could've saved her _before_ she got thrown in the Demon Realm and we wouldn't be in this mess!"

"That would have been fine with me - then Galahad and I could be back in Sedona and PERFECTLY HAPPY."

"Oh, PERFECTLY HAPPY complaining about being a human every other minute?"

"All right, that's ENOUGH!" Stella yelled.

Both prince and ex-vampire turned in surprise to see Stella with an uncharacteristically hard glare on her face, pointed first at one, then at the other.

"I know you're both worried," she said, "but arguing isn't going to help anything." She took a deep breath before continuing. "People we love - the people _you_ love - need our help. What would Mel and Galahad think if they saw the people they love acting like this?"

"So Galahad _loves _Te'ijal now?" Edward snapped. "I thought he couldn't stand her!"

"He _does_ love me!" Te'ijal snapped.

But Edward continued as if she hadn't spoken. "And you love _him?_ You have a funny way of showing it, treating him like a toy for your amusement all the time!"

"Shut UP!" Te'ijal yelled.

Stella sighed loudly. "Can you both _please_ stop?" she said with her voice shaking a little, as if she were in danger of crying. "Edward, you're worried about the woman you love. Te'ijal, you're worried about the man you love. It's understandable that you would both be easily angered when you're under this kind of emotional stress."

"And did either of us ask you to analyze us, moth?" Te'ijal snapped.

Stella ignored her. "But the five of us are a _family._ Even though we've spent time apart, we're still a family. We can't let this destroy that."

Te'ijal gulped, feeling an annoying human tingle in her stomach. The moth really was naive if she actually thought that vampires would accept that human notion of belonging to a _family._ Vampires certainly couldn't belong in a _family _with humans, who would die out in an instant while the vampires lived on and on. The whole idea was ridiculous.

Edward meanwhile was lowering his head and sighing. "Fine Stella . . . you're right." He hesitantly looked at Te'ijal. "I'm sorry," he muttered, sounding not in the least bit sorry. "I guess I'm not myself because I'm worried about Mel."

"Apology accepted," said Te'ijal. "Though . . . I can't help but wonder what you will do if we have to kill her."

Edward suddenly turned pale. "What?"

"What have I always said?" Te'ijal looked at him with complete seriousness. "Sometimes one life has to be sacrificed for the good of many. If we cannot obtain this Stone of Aya or we cannot get the Staff of Destiny away from her, she will be a great threat to the world."

Edward stared at her, breathing rapidly for several seconds, blinking hardly at all. "You . . ." he gasped, ". . . you monster . . . how can you even _consider _such a thing?"

"I have been around far longer than you," Te'ijal said calmly. "I have seen how human attachment can lead to disaster. If you truly care about the world as a whole, you will have to be ready to let go of her if it comes to that."

Edward swallowed several times before he was able to speak. "W-well . . . what will you do if we have to kill _Galahad?"_

Te'ijal's face was still, but the tingling in her stomach became an all-out flip and a sudden buzz was in her ears. Kill Galahad. Well technically, she already killed him once, right? Technically, Beatrice killed him again, right? No, this was different, she knew it. Undead was different from _dead_ dead. If Galahad was killed now . . . he would cease to exist in any form. Not even an afterlife would await him now that he was a vampire again.

"If it came to that . . . I would do it." She meant to sound strong and confident, but her voice came out weak and shaky.

Stella gulped slightly. "You really would?"

The next word had to be forced out of her. "Yes. If we have to kill him, I will stake him myself."

With that statement, something seemed to collapse within her. Galahad lying dead on the ground with a stake driven through his heart pounded in her head. Her stomach hurt, her nerves tingled, and she suddenly felt nauseous. Something wanted to jump up her throat – she quickly gripped her mouth and leaned forward, desperately thinking _no, not here, not that disgusting human thing in front of them._

"Te'ijal?" Stella asked. "Are you all right?"

Te'ijal swallowed, again, again, again, she would _not_ embarrass herself further. Finally she was able to push the thick liquid back down her throat, but she couldn't stop the liquid streaming out of her eyes. Large, hot tears, one after the other. Quickly she buried her face in her arms in shame. As far back as she could remember, she had never cried in front of anyone . . . except Galahad.

"Te'ijal . . ." she heard Stella whisper, ". . . it's all right. You can cry."

Te'ijal hesitantly showed her face, sniffing loudly. "I'm not crying," she said, hastily wiping her eyes, which left them stinging.

"Yes you are," Edward said matter-of-factly.

"Well even if I was it would not be your concern," Te'ijal said with a sneer, swallowing beteen words.

Stella gulped, her eyes shifting from side to side as if trying to prevent another fight. "Guys, we don't have to worry. We _will _get the Stone of Aya, we _won't_ have to kill Mel or Galahad."

She meant to be assuring, but there was a waver in her voice that Te'ijal detected all too well. Stella might have just as well said that they _might _have to kill their friends after all. Even the gentle healer who always wanted everything to turn out all right knew what might be necessary.

Edward gave a long, exhausted sigh. "I'm going to sleep," he said, suddenly lying down and buring himself in the blankets. "I'd suggest you two do the same."

Te'ijal and Stella looked at each other with their brows raised. After a moment, a silent agreement passed between them to lie back down and try to sleep themselves, which they did without another word.

Once she lay back down, Te'ijal became aware of the cold. The biting, biting cold. She pulled the furs over her head, but the cold followed, finding its way through the tiniest gaps between blanket and cave floor, enveloping her toes, her face, her arms, everything. The fire burning just outside the covers might as well not exist.

She tucked her arms up her sleeves, rubbing cold skin against cold skin. She breathed heavily, but all that brought was a cloud of hot air that did nothing to actually warm her body. _Go to sleep, _she thought desperately, squeezing her eyes shut. _Go to sleep._ She repeated the thought several times, though the cold kept creeping in, always whispering about Galahad. When she finally did sleep, her husband invaded her dreams, thirsty for her blood.


	4. Chapter 4

"Bitten"

By EsmeAmelia

AN: Thanks for reviewing! This last chapter takes place right before Mel and Edward's wedding.

Chapter 4

Te'ijal was secretly glad that Lydia had tricked Edward into marrying her and then annauled the marriage. Otherwise she would have missed out on Mel's wedding altogether. With a smile she thought about how she had fled to Sedona a year ago out of shame, but now it was almost odd how things had worked out in her favor. She was a vampire again and she could see Mel and Edward get married for real.

She wore a fancy dress with a red bodice and black skirt - her favorite colors that finally suited her perfectly now that her skin was pale again. The lacy sleeves were a bit much, though.

She made her way down the hall with a hairbrush in hand, looking for a mirror so she could fix her hair. It wasn't long before she found one, a large, elegant, gold-framed mirror hanging on the wall, but when she stood in front of it she only saw the opposite wall.

_Damn._ She felt like slapping herself. Had she actually gotten so used to being a human that she momentarily _forgot_ that vampires have no reflections?

Well nevermind that, she could fix her hair perfectly well without a reflection, couldn't she? She raised the brush over her head . . . but she found herself hesitating. Should she start with the right side of her head . . . the left side? . . . the top? Ugh, this was ridiculous . . . and yet she couldn't bring herself to begin.

"What are you doing, wife?"

She turned to see her husband striding down the hall towards her, dressed up for the wedding in his armor.

"Brushing my hair," she said, still holding the brush over her head. "What does it look like?"

"In front of a mirror?" Galahad grinned, striding up to her. "Isn't that kind of pointless for a vampire?" His grin widened to its physical limit. "Why, if I didn't know better, I'd say you _missed _having a reflection."

Te'ijal rolled her eyes, but then she got an idea. She stuck the brush in her husband's face, nearly hitting his cheek. "Well then, you brush it."

"What?"

"You heard me, brush my hair."

Galahad stared at the brush as if it would give him a fourth bite on the neck. "Er . . . are you sure you want me to do it?"

"I cannot see myself," Te'ijal replied. "You can. Now brush it."

After giving a very human-like sigh, Galahad took the brush, turned his wife towards the mirror, and began running the brush through her hair. Her hair was short, so brushing it shouldn't have taken a long time, but he seemed to savor every stroke, stroke, storke, brushing her hair as slowly and carefully as if her hair were three feet long and infested with tangles. At first she wasn't sure why he had turned her to face the mirror, but once she looked in it she quickly decided it was for amusement purposes. Since Galahad never fed, he still cast the faintest of reflections. In the mirror he looked like a ghost running a hairbrush through . . . nothing.

But the ghost wasn't merely _brushing _the nothing. He was pinching the nothing, playing with the nothing curling the nothing around his fingers, acting as silly as he sometimes did when they were still human. Like a doting husband - but were they still married now that they were dead? Were they ever technically married since they were dead for most of their marriage? Perhaps they could go their separate ways now . . . but just the thought made her distinctly uncomfortable.

"Galahad," she said after a few more minutes, "the idea is to make the hair look _neat._"

"Which is what I'm doing," Galahad said as his ghost reflection took another pinch of nothing between its fingers. "Do you not trust your husband?"

_"Are _you still my husband now that we are dead?"

The ghost Galahad shifted its eyes. "Well . . . the marriage contract only used the word 'alive' when it said you had to obey me, and the preacher never said 'till death do us part' or anything of the sort."

"So we're still married."

"I assume we are." He pulled a strand of her hair. "So you can trust your _husband_ to fix your hair, right?"

Te'ijal rolled her eyes again. "Well, you weren't exactly _trustworty _in Underfall."

Galahad gave no verbal answer, but his hands abruptly stilled and the brush trembled.

"Do you really not remember _anything _of the Demon Realm or what happened afterwards?" Te'ijal continued.

"No," Galahad muttered.

"Shall I tell you?"

Galahad suddenly put the brush down on the small table in front of the mirror. "All right, I think you're ready now."

"So you really _aren't _curious about how you tried to kill us?"

"No."

Te'ijal turned around and faced her husband, who looked like he would be blushing now if vampires could blush. "Not even a little _tiny_ bit curious?"

"I already said _no."_

Te'ijal sway from side to side, rustling her skirt. "All right then, are you at least curious about how you offered to bite me?"

_"What?"_

Te'ijal grinned widely. "Ah, I see I've finally got your attention."

Galahad's eyes were wide like an embarrassed child's. "You're . . . you're lying, aren't you?"

"No," said Te'ijal. "Ask Stella and Edward if you do not believe me."

Galahad's eyes bulged further. "Well . . . if I actually offered that . . . why didn't you accept? Isn't that what you wanted?"

Te'ijal glanced down at the floor, suddenly wondering what had possessed her to tell Galahad about his offer when she knew he would start asking questions. She stared at the blue and yellow tiles in their still dance. "You . . . were not yourself," she muttered.

"And why would that have mattered? You would still be a vampire."

"Well . . . how was I to know that you weren't going to eat me?" It was a feeble excuse, she knew that as soon as it came out of her mouth.

Galahad only snickered in disbelief. "Well how were you to know that _Beatrice _wasn't going to eat you? You were perfectly willing to take the risk _then._"

Te'ijal looked up at him, embarrassment in her red eyes.

"Now tell me," said Galahad. "Tell me the _real_ reason."

_"Why_ is it so important to you?" Te'ijal snapped.

"Because I want to know once and for all who my wife _really_ is." Galahad stared her in the eye. "Now please . . . tell me."

Te'ijal sighed like a human, almost as human-like as her husband's sigh was. "It is . . . complicated."

"How?"

Te'ijal sighed again without thinking. "I . . . was worried about you."

"_Worried_ about me?" Galahad sounded like the very idea of his wife worried about anything was incomprehensable.

"Yes," Te'ijal said, blinking at him. "Something had overcome you. Changed you. You were no longer the man I . . . loved."

The last word came out in a mumble, but it made Galahad's brows go up.

"And I wanted _my husband _back," she continued, forcing every word out. "You, the only vampire in history who never lost his decency - even after three hundred years. Do you _realize_ what a treasure I had found? I once thought it was impossible to resist the urge to feed on humans, but your integrity showed me . . ."

She cut off abruptly, again looking at the floor, thankful that she was no longer capable of blushing.

"What?" Galahad said quietly.

Te'ijal timidly looked back up at her husband. "Your integrity . . . it helped me believe that _I _could resist."

Galahad's eyes buldged as if he had lost the ability to close them. For several moments he seemed to be frozen, then his hand slowly lifted with a single finger pointed at her. "You . . . _resist?"_

Te'ijal looked down once more, feeling like she could never again look her husband in the eye. "Yes . . . resist. Never perfectly - I lapsed many a time . . . but as the centuries passed it gradually became somewhat easier . . . somewhat." She slowly looked back up at him. "The blood of some monsters tastes almost like human blood . . . _almost._"

By now Galahad's eyes looked in danger of falling out of their sockets. "But . . . if this is true . . . why didn't you ever tell me?"

Te'ijal sighed again, wishing she hadn't developed this annoying human habit of sighing. "Vampires consider not eating humans to be a sign of weakness - and weakness is the thing vampires despise the most." She ran her fingers down the mirror, glancing at her lack of a reflection.

"But _I _wouldn't have thought you were weak." Galahad actually sounded genuinely hurt. "_I _could have helped you abstain." He suddenly grabbed her hand. "Why did you let me think you were a killer? Do you know that I almost let you burn up because of that?"

"Yes," Te'ijal muttered. "But . . . you _didn't _actually let me burn."

Galahad squeezed her hand and then slowly let it slip out of his. "And . . . why did you try to get _me _to eat humans?"

Te'ijal felt her wicked grin forming in spite of everything. "Because it was _fun._ The way you complained, the names you called me, the way you ran away from me and I had to chase you - it was priceless."

Galahad scrunched his face. "Weren't you afraid that I would actually _listen _to you and eat a human?"

"Certainly not." Te'ijal laughed. "I knew you were far too stubborn for that."

Galahad growled.

"And even when I _did _lapse," Te'ijal quickly said, taking her husband's hands, "I could look to you for strength to try harder next time."

Now Galahad was the one glancing at the floor as if the tiles would come up with an appropriate response to what she said.

"So now you know," Te'ijal finished. "This is who your wife is."

Galahad looked back up a little bit at a time. He stared at her for several moments, his expression unreadable even to a vampire . . . then all of a sudden he grabbed her cheeks and kissed her lips - the first time he had ever kissed her when they were both vampires. There it was again, the spark, the passion, everything that had been missing when he kissed her in Underfall. Her eyes closed and her arms wrapped around his neck, savoring the kiss for moment after moment.

When they pulled out, a hint of uncertainty crossed Galahad's eyes. "So . . . I guess you'll want to go home after the wedding?"

"Of course."

"And . . . I suppose you think 'home' is Ghe'dare?"

"Certainly," said Te'ijal. "After all, Sedona is no place for vampires to live."

"But it's our _home._"

"_Was_ our home." Te'ijal stuck her nose up. "Our _human_ home. We can go back there and get our things and then set off for Ghe'dare tomorrow." She patted her husband's cheek. "Come partridge, do you not long for our old home? The ghost haunting the halls? The skulls on the mantelpieces? The cobwebs in the corners? Does it not give you goosebumps just _thinking _about it?"

Galahad rolled his eyes. "Vampires can't get goosebumps."

"I was speaking metaphorically, darling, you know that."

"Well what if _I _wanted to keep living in Sedona?"

Te'ijal lowered her brows. "_I_ am going back to Ghe'dare with or _without _you. If you wish to live in Sedona, then live there without me." She ignored the slight alarm going off in the back of her head.

"I am your _maker!_" Galahad said in a near-shout. "You have to do as I say!"

"And I am your _original_ maker!" Te'ijal retorted. "Besides, do you intend to obey _Beatrice _for all eternity? I don't think so." She turned around, sweeping her skirt about her. "If you intend to order me around, you will have to move back to Ghe'dare in order to do it."

"Te'ijal . . . wait," Galahad said, grabbing her shoulders from behind. "Don't do this."

"And what are you going to do to me if I _don't _obey you?" Te'ijal said with a sniff. "Stake me? Shove me into the sun? You never obeyed _me _very well during those three hundred years anyway."

"Te'ijal . . ." Galahad said softly, sounding almost desperate, ". . . please . . . don't leave me . . ."

She slowly turned back around, seeing that her husband's head was lowered yet again. "Will you come back home with me?"

Galahad seemed frozen for several moments before he finally looked back up, as timid as a human child. "Will you . . . do something for me if I do this for you?"

"If this something is obeying you for eternity, certainly not."

"No . . . something else." He wrung his fingers together before putting his hands back on her shoulders. "You are not a killer - I know that now. Can you . . . stop eating humans entirely?"

Never eat humans again. Not merely try to abstain for a year, a decade, even a century, but _never _know the sweet taste of human blood again. The unique flavor of human was dancing around in her mouth, teasing her, taunting her. No . . . she could never go the rest of eternity without it . . . could she?

Galahad's hands moved up to her cheeks, squeezing her face and looking into her eyes. "You are not a killer," he repeated. He said it with such confidence, such absolute certainty. "It was only your vampire side that was a killer. You can overcome that - you are strong."

Strong. Here was a vampire who thought oppositely of other vampires. For him it was _strong_ to resist the urge to eat humans . . . and maybe he was right. After all, it was a struggle to overcome the desire - to feed on humans was no struggle at all. Maybe it was actually the _weaker _vampires who called not feeding on humans a weakness.

"I can do it," she suddenly said, hardly aware that she was saying it.

A fanged smile crossed Galahad's lips. "Really?"

Te'ijal stared into his blue eyes, the eyes that had remained blue for so long. "Yes," she said steadily, suddenly meaning it. "I can."

Almost before she finished her last word, he kissed her again. She closed her eyes and grabbed his neck, his beautiful neck, confident that yes, she could do this so long as she had him around.

"Oh," he said suddenly, abruptly pulling out of the kiss, "I have something for you."

"Galahad," Te'ijal said with a cackling giggle, "you are such a doting fool."

Galahad dug into his pocket. "Are you ready?"

"Fine, get it over with."

He dug into his pocket a second longer and pulled out a gold necklace with a large clear pendant dangling from it. "I thought you could wear this to the wedding."

Te'ijal stared at the dangling pendant swaying from side to side. "Galahad, that looks exactly like . . . the _Soul Pendant._"

A sheepish look overtook Galahad's face. "Er . . . actually, it _is _the Soul Pendant - though it's just an ordinary necklace now."

"What?" Te'ijal exclaimed. "But I lost it almost fifty years ago. I . . . wait . . . you didn't by any chance _take_ it, did you?"

Galahad scrunched his face. "I wanted to get rid of it. Even though it no longer worked, every time I saw you wear it it reminded me of what I had become. I was going to throw it in the ocean, but for some reason or other . . . I didn't." He shifted his eyes from side to side. "Anyway, I thought it was high time I returned it to you."

At first Te'ijal wasn't sure how to respond, then all of a sudden she burst into a fit of cackles. "Oh _Galahad,_" she crooned. "Galahad, Galahad, Galahad, you are _such _a hopeless romantic."

Galahad's fangs brushed over his lower lip. "Would you like me to help you put it on?"

"Yes," Te'ijal said, hardly able to speak through her cackles. "I would _so _love to wear your soul again."

Galahad rolled his eyes. "You know it no longer holds my soul."

"I can wear it metaphorically, then." Te'ijal snickered.

Galahad sighed. "All right, that works." He undid the clasp on the necklace. "Turn around."

Te'ijal gave a fanged grin and turned around. The grin remained as he skillfully fastened the pendant around her neck.

"My soul is yours," he whispered, kissing her neck. "Take good care of it."

Te'ijal stroked the pendant. "I always have."

THE END


End file.
